The history-chasing Freiburg side heading to Istanbul

SC Freiburg trace their history to a time before the foundation of FIFA. Football’s international federation was established in May 1904, but Freiburger Fußballverein 04 came into being a couple of months earlier that year in March. By the end of May, another club by the name of Schwalbe Freiburg was born in the city. In 1912, the two would merge to form SC Freiburg.

Despite taking 26 years to put together the first men’s World Cup and being interrupted by a World War, FIFA has organised 22 editions of its flagship event to date. Freiburg, in the meantime, have won zero major trophies.

The majority of the Breisgau-based club’s history has been spent in regional competitions and lower tiers. They won their first promotion to the Bundesliga in the 1990s and soon went on two European tours between a couple of bounces up and down the top two tiers. The architect behind this period of success was Volker Finke, who spent 16 years in charge of the side between 1991 and 2007.

Succeeding him was never going to be an easy task, but Robin Dutt did an admirable job by leading the club back into the top flight and taking them into the top half. Remarkably, Freiburg soon found Finke’s true successor in spirit when Christian Streich came to the fore by becoming head coach in 2011, having spent 16 years focusing on the youth team. The Baden-Württemberg native stayed in the job till 2024, keeping the club in the Bundesliga for all but one season and leading them to four more continental adventures.

Beyond the results on the pitch, though, Streich’s legend at Freiburg also grew because of the way he carried himself and spoke off it. His musings on wider worldly matters that inevitably have an impact on football, such as this critique of neo-capitalism, earned him a reputation as a philosopher and certainly made him a respected ambassador of not just the club, but the entire region.

Streich came incredibly close to crowning his tenure off with a long-awaited major trophy as he led Freiburg to their first-ever major final in the 2022/23 DFB Pokal, but watched them fall short on penalties against RB Leipzig. A few months later, he decided to call it a day, leaving the club with the unenviable task of replacing another legendary head coach.

This time, Freiburg turned straight to the assistant by promoting Julian Schuster. The former midfielder had spent a decade playing for the club since joining in 2008 before retiring and transitioning into a coaching role. While he hasn’t publicly revealed his thoughts on neo-capitalism, it is safe to say he is doing a good job in terms of results at least.

Schuster nearly led Freiburg to their first-ever Champions League qualification in his first season in charge, but they ended up missing out by a couple of points. They definitely will not be complaining about their Europa League qualification with the benefit of hindsight, seeing that it set them on the path to their very first continental final. They have impressed en route to it too, finishing in the top eight of the league phase and overturning a first-leg deficit against Braga in the semi-final to book their trip to Istanbul.

Freiburg concluded their Bundesliga campaign last weekend with a 4-1 win over RB Leipzig to finish seventh with a perfectly balanced record reading 13-8-13. However, it would be fair to say that their true quality is at least a little better than that since they have clearly invested more energy into Europa League matches. This is particularly evident looking at the defensive numbers, which show the Breisgau-based club to be among the least intense pressers in the Bundesliga while being much more active in Europe.

Against stronger opposition and especially when they have the lead, Schuster’s side often drop quite deep into a low block. Their 4-2-3-1 starting formation becomes a 4-5-1 or even a back five depending on the opponent, as they look to defend with big numbers. As a result, they can be tough to create quality chances against. In fact, they have the second-most blocks in the Bundesliga this season with just one fewer than Wolfsburg’s 154.

Freiburg’s centre back pairing complement each other nicely. Philipp Lienhart is the more imposing dueller with a strong frame but not the best at defending in space going backwards, so Mathias Ginter does a good job of cleaning up behind him.

A lot will rest on the performance of Noah Atubolu in goal. The young shot-stopper is capable of the spectacular but was especially inconsistent last season, making some costly howlers but also working towards a Bundesliga record of five consecutive penalty saves. He has managed to channel his very best in the Europa League, though, so Freiburg will hope for more of the same in the final.

Atubolu is a technically sound ball-player, but has benefitted from the team’s more direct approach to playing out as it has mitigated his risk of making errors.

On the flip side, this has left Freiburg to be pretty reliant on individual quality to create chances. Thankfully, they do have a couple of difference-makers in their team. Chief among them is Vincenzo Grifo, who overtook Nils Petersen to become the club’s all-time top-scorer earlier this season. Now 33 years old, the Italian technician doesn’t do much more than provide quality output with the ball at his feet, but as long as the goals and assists keep rolling in, Freiburg don’t have reason to complain.

The more well-rounded contributor is breakout star Johan Manzambi, who was the team’s top creator in the league this season based on xA. His standout attribute is his ball-carrying, which attracted the attention of Moe earlier this year. All being well, he will catch the eye of all viewers in the Europa League final.

An underrated figure in this Freiburg side is Maximilian Eggestein, who provides decent on-ball support at the base of the midfield besides offering good defensive solidity. He has been Mr Reliable this season, finishing the league campaign as one of just three outfielders to play every single minute and becoming the first midfielder to do so since Joshua Kimmich in 2018/19.

Dynamic forward Yuito Suzuki will be a miss in Istanbul due to his collarbone fracture, so striker Igor Matanović will be without a strong second presence to situationally support him up top. The Croatian forward is a capable line-leader who has done a good job of getting shots in the box this season, so his job will remain largely unchanged in terms of trying to get on the end of deliveries.

Arguably the most important element in making Freiburg’s attack sufficiently functional, though, has been everyone’s favourite means of scoring goals: set-pieces. Schuster’s side have scored a third of their 51 league goals from such situations — a ratio only bettered by Union Berlin and the two relegated clubs — in addition to six in the Europa League.

Besides relying on their aerial presences in the box, Freiburg have a couple of novel routines employing deft flicks and countermovements in their locker.

Aston Villa can mix things up nicely from dead balls too, so this should be an interesting subplot on Wednesday night. Perhaps this would be a fitting way for either club to win an elusive trophy this season.

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